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In Columbia, S.C., there is a sense of fulfillment among the descendants of a father and daughter who appear in what are likely the earliest photographs of enslaved individuals. They are pleased that these images are finally returning to South Carolina.
After a prolonged seven-year legal battle, Harvard University has handed over these photographs to the International African American Museum in Charleston, as announced by the museum on Wednesday.
The daguerreotypes, dating back to 1850, represent an early form of photography. They feature an enslaved man named Renty, his daughter Delia, and five other individuals: Jack, Drana, Alfred, Fassena, and Jem. Captured from multiple perspectives, the subjects were photographed without shirts. These images were commissioned by a Harvard biologist as part of racist research that supported pro-slavery arguments before the Civil War.
The museum intends to safeguard these daguerreotypes and create photographic reproductions for an exhibit that sheds light on the lives of the seven enslaved people from South Carolina.
Tamara Lanier, who claims “Papa Renty” as her great-great-great-grandfather, initiated a lawsuit against Harvard. She aspired for the images to be housed in the South Carolina museum, emphasizing their connection to the place where Renty was enslaved and where the daguerreotypes were originally captured, explained her attorney, Joshua Koskoff.
“It’s almost spiritual they are coming home. They can breathe at the museum,” Koskoff said.
The legal fight between Lanier and Harvard wound through courts in Massachusetts before the two sides reached a deal in 2025. Harvard said it had always been eager to get the pictures to a museum but fought the lawsuit because Harvard couldn’t confirm Lanier was related to the people in the photos.
Lanier’s lawyer said Harvard made money off the photos by licensing the images.
“Slavery robbed Renty and Delia of their humanity. But it was Harvard who robbed them of their story,” Koskoff said.
The International African American Museum was recently built at Gadsden’s Wharf in downtown Charleston where almost half of all enslaved people brought to the U.S. first stepped foot in North America.